At The Gates has caught a lot of flack over the years for contaminating the death metal world with the "melodic" Gothenburg sound, but I say fuck all that. They never knew that a million second-rate screamo douchebags were going to go nuts with their unique blend of vitriolic shred, much less water it down into the mediocre wankery that bands like The Black Dahlia Murder and Soilwork practice today. Forgive them, O Lord, they knew not what they did.
Here's the album that directly preceded the "highly influential" Slaughter of the Soul, 1994's Terminal Spirit Disease. In my opinion, this album is just as good as Slaughter, and probably even a bit MORE dynamic.
I saw these guys on their reunion tour last year, and it was EPIC. They kicked my ass. Long live ATG!
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4 comments:
One of the alltime great albums. Every word you write it true. Pussy bands may have borrower from At the Gates, but ATG were no pussies. They made death metal the way its done.
Shelby-
I got go with Soilwork being a watered down ATG, deserving of our scorn. But I think that The Black Dahlia Murder is more worship and witness than weak teaness. However, it is the abomination of what In Flames have become that deserves the kick in the ding-ding.
I actually wrote "In Flames", then deleted it and wrote "Black Dahlia Murder" in that post, because I.F. were actually around when ATG were doing their thing, and just sort of decomposed over the years. B.D.M., however, are indeed disciples, and while I understand where you're coming from, I was completely underwhelmed the one time I saw them live. Just sayin'.
Definitely their best work. It is here that the Good Ideas of the early years mesh into actual songs, allowing me to enjoy the work and not just recognize the potential. Early Gothenburg was the shit, and it's a shame that it's been diluted by alt-metal garbage like Soilwork and the American -core scene.
The Black Dahlia Murder I would describe as a band who fail earnestly. They're far better than Soilwork and Sonic Syndicate, but not anything I'm interested in hearing.
Old post, I know. I got tracked back from a more recent post.
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